Your Magic or Mine? Read Online Free PDF

jeans and a button-down blue shirt.
    “I’d like to speak up for Forscher’s equation and theory,” he said. “I’m Bryan Pritchart, one of his mathematical colleagues, and I’ve played with the equation. It’s a good beginning for more efficient casting. Of course, it’s not perfected yet, and I can suggest a couple of improvements. We’ve been practicing magic the same way for too long. It’s time to try the new.” Some of the people sitting around the man clapped.
    Gloriana snuck a glance at Forscher, who didn’t look very happy at the man’s statement—probably because he’d said the part about ‘a couple of improvements’ in a snide tone of voice.
    “Thank you, Dr. Pritchart,” was all Forscher said.
    A large balding man in the middle back of the audience was next. The fellow rose and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m against highfalutin folderol. The formula is too complicated, most people won’t be able to follow it, and why should we try to fix what’s not broke? I’m a level five, I raise cattle, and I don’t have the time to think up an ‘e-qua-shun’ while gelding a calf or inseminating a cow, I can tell you that. Nobody is going to force me to do it, either!” He gave a sharp nod of his head and sat down to a couple of “you tell ‘ems” and “amens.”
    “Sir,” Forscher said, “nobody is trying to force anything on you or anyone else here. I’m offering a possible method for more efficient casting. It needs testing and refinement. You are free to try it or not, as you wish.”
    A young woman in an orange UT sweatshirt took the mike. “I don’t understand you people who refuse to see Dr. Forscher for the genius he is. He’s helping us understand the building blocks of magic. We need to look to the future, not back to the past. Tradition and the so-called tried and true ways are okay for you old practitioners. We young ones need more, especially for the new professions we have to deal with.”
    Gloriana heard “harrumphs” coming from several “old” practitioners. When Forscher thanked the student for her support, she flushed beet red.
    A woman who could be the photo on a “Soccer Mom” poster was next. “Look here. I’m at best what you might call ‘mathematically challenged.’ Are you telling me I have to use math to prepare my children to become practitioners? When they have talents that have nothing to do with math?”
    Gloriana watched Forscher frown. Like many theorists, he must have been so far into his equation that he didn’t think of the practical or of people who could not or would not welcome his formula.
    “No, ma’am, I’m not saying that,” he replied. “It’s a theory, an experiment at the moment. And you might be surprised how much math there is in everyday life.”
    Gloriana stifled a smile. He probably should not have made the last statement—or sounded quite as condescending.
    Sure enough, the woman responded, “I’m not stupid or uneducated. There’s math in cooking and cleaning and making change and filling up the car. But that’s arithmetic. What you’re selling here looks like calculus to me. If you’re cooking up a spell, then how much is a cup of power, tell me that?”
    Almost everyone laughed at the exchange. Even Forscher grinned before replying, “That’s what we need to study.”
    Ed pointed to a white-haired man sitting next to the stylishly dressed previous questioner. “I’m Cal Horner,” he announced in a slow drawl. “Something’s been bothering me about your all-encompassing equation, Dr. Forscher. There are all kinds of talents, and every one has a set of spells that goes with them. Everybody can’t possibly cast a spell the same way. How do you expect to apply one equation to all of them? How can, for example, a plumber cast one of his talent’s spells the same way a cook can?”
    Gloriana suddenly recognized the names. He was a retired industrialist and she a society hostess from Dallas. The